Winter worries

My column last Friday was about how I worry about Herb when he’s hiking without me. When Herb is hiking with certain people we know, I worry very little – I know they have lots of experience and can handle any emergencies. I worry a little more when he’s with people we don’t know well, even more when he’s alone, and the most when he’s alone in winter.

I haven’t been writing about my own winter adventures lately because I haven’t really been having any. I had a nice ski at Moreau Lake State Park before all the snow melted, but then I hurt my back. Now I’m down to slow walks around the neighborhood until I start feeling better. I might try swimming this week and see how that goes. Wish me luck – I can’t wait to get back up to speed!

My first draft of last week’s column included a story about a long-ago hike Herb took with some friends from the Adirondack Mountain Club, long before either of us had cell phones. I had to cut the anecdote for space but thought it was fun enough to include here.

The story is, Herb went off to hike the then-trailless Jay Range with a group of guys. They left around 6 a.m. to get an early start on what they knew would be a long day. As it got later and later in the day and I hadn’t heard a peep, I started to get worried. I knew two of the hikers and called their wives. Sometime after 9 p.m., I ended up on the phone with Jean, whose husband Walt is a long-time trip leader and veteran bushwhacker.

Jean was unconcerned about the overdue hikers and calmed me right down.

When do you start to worry? I asked her.

Oh, around 10 tomorrow morning, Jean said.

I was a little taken aback at first, but Jean’s logic was this:

If the hikers had still been out when darkness fell, they may have decided to stop for the night (even with headlamps, it can be difficult to bushwhack in the dark as you need to be able to pick out landmarks and keep a straight compass reading). In that case, they would get going when it got light in the morning, but might still need a few hours to reach their cars and a phone. So if she didn’t heard from then by 10 a.m. the next day, then she would call the rangers.

It would not, Jean said, be the first time Walt had spent an unplanned night in the woods.

I hung up the phone immeasurably reassured, but didn’t go to bed until after Herb came in the door, close to midnight. As glad as I was to see him, I was equally glad not to have been along on what sounded like a long and difficult trip. Herb, of course, had a blast – those seem to be the hikes he likes best.